


Shotor Summer Week 2019

by hashtag_anthems



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Celebrations, Day At The Beach, Don’t copy to another site, First Dance, Honeymoon, M/M, Parental Panic, Shotor Summer Week 2019, Stargazing, Storms, Summer Nights, Vacation, Wedding Reception, but its cute so that should make up for it, but not really? it's the setting but not a huge focus?, cute domestic family fluff, fashion - Freeform, just a couple of boyfriends and their daughter, just enjoy your honeymoon you dorks, more cute domestic family fluff, okay i kind of cheated today, separation anxiety but on the part of the parents?, shopping for a flower girl dress, the boys take their kid to japan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-08-27
Packaged: 2020-09-06 22:36:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20299063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hashtag_anthems/pseuds/hashtag_anthems
Summary: My entries for Shotor Summer Week, comprised entirely of cute, domestic family stuff.





	1. Day 1: Beach Day

**Author's Note:**

> So these are all of my prompt fills for Shotor Summer Week, a.k.a. an excuse for me to finally publish something about my Shotor fankid, Aliyah. So get ready for a week of cutesy, domestic, family-centered fluff.

Lotor had been to many beaches, on many planets all across the universe. He’d been to beaches made entirely of glass, beaches that lined oceans of corrosive acid, beaches with vicious monsters three times his size with shells stronger than any metal and more legs than he could count. He had to admit: Earth beaches were his favorite.

The sun wasn’t blisteringly hot, and the sand didn’t immediately try to drag him down like some sentient creature. The only animals present were some rather loud birds that liked to steal food from the beachgoers. The ocean was just water. Plain, harmless water. It had a high salt concentration, but that wasn’t deadly unless you drank it. Lotor could see why people came here to relax. And relax was what he planned to do. He had the whole day to just lay on his beach towel and do absolutely _nothing_.

Okay, this wasn’t going to work. He needed _something_ to do. 

He sat up, surveying the beach. It was just… sand, then water. There were other people lounging around, either asleep or more capable of laying there doing nothing than Lotor was. He couldn’t help it. He felt like if he didn’t get up and do _something_, then…

He wasn’t sure what. He just needed to be doing something. But what did one do on beaches where their life wasn’t currently in danger?

Shiro was asleep next to him, so he wasn’t going to be any help. Lotor didn’t want to wake him up. He deserved a nap. He’d been working himself to the brink of exhaustion every night this week, and Lotor had a hard-enough time getting him to sleep when he needed to. He looked so peaceful like this.

Aliyah came running up to them, and Lotor was quick to remind her to be quiet, that Daddy was sleeping and she needed to let him rest. She still giggled and held a finger up to her lips. She shushed Lotor too. Shiro seemed to still be asleep. Good. He deserved a chance to rest.

Aliyah was covering Shiro’s feet with sand when he looked back at her, and something held him back from asking her to stop. Shiro would probably get a kick out of it, when he woke up.

Hmm.

“Want some help?” he asked, careful not to be too loud. Aliyah giggled and nodded before piling more sand on Shiro’s legs. Lotor scooped some of the sand up and joined his daughter’s efforts. The pile grew much more quickly with both of them working.

Shiro was awake when they got to his knees, but Lotor could tell that he was trying to pretend he wasn’t. “Careful, princess, you don’t want to wake him up,” Lotor still cautioned Aliyah. Shiro was trying not to laugh, and if Lotor was honest, so was he. Aliyah was patting the sand down, and Lotor wondered how long Shiro wanted to keep this up for. Maybe they could build a castle on top? Lotor would need a picture of that.

Shiro was doing his best not to laugh, and Aliyah seemed to be in her own little world, so Lotor wasn’t sure that it really mattered. Shiro was painfully ticklish. Lotor poured a handful of sand on Shiro’s stomach, and Aliyah joined in, in a fit of giggles.

Lotor had to put a stop to it when every bit of Shiro up to his chin was covered with sand. “Come on, we have to let him breathe,” he reminded Aliyah. “Can I get a picture?” He reached for Shiro’s phone while Aliyah climbed up on top of the pile of sand. He snapped a few pictures of her before Shiro opened his eyes, grinning sleepily at Aliyah.

“Uh oh, looks like someone’s awake.”

Aliyah shrieked with laughter as Shiro sat up, wrapping his arms around her and blowing raspberries against her cheek. He was tickling her back now. Sweet revenge, probably.

“Okay, you win!” Shiro fell back onto his beach towel, now covered in sand as well. Aliyah was sitting on him, smiling and giggling and all around having the time of her life.

“So…” Shiro muttered when Aliyah finally climbed off of him to play with her toys. “You’re helping me wash all of this sand off when we get home, right?”


	2. Day 2: Vacation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Shiro, Lotor, and Aliyah fly to Japan to meet Shiro's family, and Lotor realizes he's going to have to hurry up with some plans of his.

“Next time we fly somewhere, we’re taking one of our ships.” Lotor had _not_ enjoyed being cooped up in a tiny plane for… how long had it been? Well over 12 hours at least. He swore every joint in his body was popping as he stretched. He was stiff, and he was tired, and he just wanted to go to sleep for a few hours.

“It’s a part of the experience.” Shiro leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. “And you know how hard it is to get clearance to fly those in atmo.”

“I’m an emperor, I can do what I want.”

“At least we got first class. You’ve never been forced to fly 16 hours to Japan in a tiny little economy seat,” Shiro told him. He grabbed Aliyah before she could run off into the terminal. “Hey, I do not need you getting lost at the airport.”

Lotor froze up when he heard someone call Shiro’s name. They were supposed to meet Shiro’s family at their home. He was supposed to have time to mentally prepare himself to… to meet Shiro’s _family_.

“Relax, it’s just Hiroko. You’ve met her before.” Shiro gave him a reassuring squeeze on his shoulder before going to meet his sister. Okay, yeah, Lotor could handle that.

“You look like you just saw a ghost,” Shiro’s sister laughed. “It’s been a while. How have you guys been?”

“Oh, you know, raising a toddler. Running an empire. We’ve just been keeping up with normal day-to-day stuff,” Shiro said. “Lotor’s a little jet lagged. He’s used to aircraft having a hyperdrive.”

“I still say we should have taken one on our ships…” Lotor muttered.

“Well, you can nap when we get back to the house. The drive isn’t that long.” Hiroko took a couple of their bags from Shiro and started to lead the way to her car.

“I thought we were checking into the hotel first,” Lotor muttered.

“Mom and Dad insisted you guys stay with us. ‘No sense in them staying in a hotel when we’ve still got Taka’s room,’ and all. I couldn’t talk them out of it.” Hiroko was smiling at them anyway, and Shiro wondered if she wanted them to stay as much as his parents did.

“Thanks for trying, sis…” he muttered anyway. “It’ll be fine, it’s not like you’ve never spoken to them before,” he added for Lotor’s benefit.

“They already love you,” Hiroko assured him.

Lotor wasn’t feeling any better when they pulled up to Shiro’s childhood home. It wasn’t _tiny_, but it wasn’t particularly large either. The roof was blue. Lotor vaguely recognized it from some pictures that Shiro had showed him. Shiro’s parents were waiting at the front door for them.

“Takashi, it’s been too long!” Shiro’s mother came out to greet them. “Where’s my granddaughter? I have presents.”

“Mom, I said you didn’t have to get her anything,” Shiro said. “Lotor’s getting her out of her car seat.” Technically it was Hiroko’s youngest’s car seat.

“Too bad, we’ve got two years of spoiling her to catch up on.” Shiro’s father had a few gift bags in his arms.

“Aliyah, say hi to grandma and grandpa,” Lotor cooed, lifting Aliyah out of the car. Aliyah waved at them, which was more than Lotor expected from her. She was exhausted from the flight here.

“Hello, _Ali-chan!_” Shiro’s mother said, waving back. “Come on inside, you must be tired. Can I make you anything to eat?”

“We’re fine, Mom,” Shiro said. “You don’t have to go to any trouble. I think we’re going to unpack and take a nap.”

Lotor woke up with a toddler laying on top of his face. “Aliyah, I can’t breathe,” he muttered, blindly reaching for his daughter. She was sound asleep, and as much as Lotor didn’t want to disturb her, he needed to get up. Wasn’t she supposed to be asleep in the Pack n Play?

She seemed perfectly content laying on Lotor’s head, though. Had she managed to climb out? She _was_ almost too big for it, but they had hoped for one last vacation where they could get away with it.

He removed Aliyah and sat up, squinting at the clock to see what time it was here. They had gotten in around noon, and now it was 7 o’clock at night. Was that too late for dinner?

“I just don’t know how to ask? I mean, we’ve talked about it. Of course we have. But I still have to… you know, _ask_.”

Oh? Lotor was trying to break his habit of eavesdropping on everyone, but this was… interesting.

“I just want it to be perfect, you know?”

“If you’re worried about it being perfect, you’ll never get around to asking, Takashi,” Shiro’s father chuckled.

Normally, Lotor would be elated, but he had a ring in his pocket that now had a deadline. And he had no idea when it was. Nor did Shiro, apparently.

Aliyah started whining and squirming in Lotor’s arms. Lotor cursed the fact that he wouldn’t be able to hear any more on the subject. Shiro stepped out into the hall, and that was the end of it.


	3. Day 3: Storms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Aliyah requires comfort, and Lotor decides to ask something important.

Lightning wasn’t very common in space. In nebulae and other planets’ atmospheres, yes, they had electrical storms, but in the empty void between galaxies, there was nothing to conduct electricity, and thus there was no lightning. Lotor loved to watch it. He loved the arcs of light leaving colored spots dancing across his vision. Space was quiet, and the thunder of a storm was always grounding for him. And the rain pouring down was one of his favorite sounds.

Unfortunately, Lotor also had a toddler to look after who _hated_ storms. He didn’t get to enjoy them as much when Aliyah was clinging to his shirt and close to a tantrum every time a bolt of lightning struck. He _did_ get to enjoy cuddling with his daughter and his boyfriend during storms, though, since it was one of the few things that could calm Aliyah down. Just their little family, huddled under a blanket in each other’s arms. It wouldn’t get rid of the storm outside, but it would make sure Aliyah felt safe, and that was close enough.

“Good thing she tired herself out earlier,” Shiro said. He was being careful not to wake her up. “I never would have seen this coming. It was all blue skies when we were out earlier.”

“It moved in rather quickly,” Lotor agreed. He was staring out the big picture window in their living room, watching the rain fall on their front yard. They had taken Aliyah to the park that morning. She was getting so big now. She was only two, and it felt like just yesterday that she was a tiny little baby. Now she was already running and jumping and doing all sorts of things. She needed somewhere other than the house to use up all of her new toddler energy.

It was worth it, now that she was starting to sleep through the night. Hopefully she would sleep through the storm, too. She seemed perfectly content in her father’s arms, and Lotor was taken aback for a moment at just how… perfect this was. It was almost too good to be true.

He met Shiro’s gaze for a moment. The way that he could just look at Lotor with nothing but _love_ in his eyes was… still a little foreign, if Lotor was being honest. But he knew that he wanted that look on him for the rest of his life.

He felt around for his pocket, where he had kept the ring ever since he bought it. No box, because that was just difficult to hide and more than a bit impractical. This wasn’t… exactly when he’d planned on using it, but it just felt… right. This whole situation just felt intimate in a way that Lotor had never felt before, and he’d wanted a perfect opportunity to propose. This was about as perfect as he would get.

He held up the ring, and Shiro’s eyes went as wide as their tea saucers. “No, I was going to…” he muttered, and Lotor had to really try not to laugh and wake up Aliyah. “I was planning on proposing later this week! You jerk, catching me off-guard when I don’t even have the ring on me…”

“You can still propose to me, but I want to propose now, so shush. I have a speech planned.” Or, he did, but suddenly he couldn’t remember how it went. Oh well. Improv was always one of his strong points. “Meeting you, being with you, starting a family with you… it’s been the best moments of my life, and… I don’t ever want to lose that, so… if you’ll have me… I’d like to ask for your hand, officially.” Shiro was already regarded as Lotor’s consort among the empire, but they hadn’t done anything _official_ yet. “Takashi Shirogane, will you marry me?”

“Only if you agree to marry me when I propose,” Shiro chuckled. “I still can’t believe you.”

“Here, at least put the ring on,” Lotor said, holding it out to Shiro. He had a few remnants of the comet left from building Sincline, and Sincline was made from the same material that Black was made from, so… it seemed fitting. He’d had one of Shiro’s favorite gems set in the band. Lotor had a universe of jewelry to choose from, but he’d felt that it wouldn’t… mean as much if he didn’t make it himself.

Shiro rolled his eyes but held out his hand anyway. Lotor slid the ring onto his finger, and he could feel it adjusting to fit perfectly. It wasn’t big enough to be sentient like their ships were, but it would at least always be the right size.

“You’d better pretend to be surprised when I pop the question,” Shiro muttered.

“Anything for my fiancé,” Lotor said, leaning in to nuzzle against Shiro’s cheek. “My fiancé…”

The only words that would feel better in his mouth would be _my husband_…


	4. Day 4: Fashion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Aliyah is upset while the family goes shopping for wedding clothes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thanks to River and Lily in the shotor discord for helping me figure this out. I'm still not 100% satisfied with it, but it's done, and it's only a day late. Writer's block and a bad focus day hit at the same time. >.<

The easy part had been finding something for Shiro and Lotor to wear to their wedding. It was summer, so they didn’t want to wear full suits in the heat. They went for vests instead, because they were classy, and they weren’t too hot to wear in the middle of summer. They went to one store, found what they wanted, and left with their wedding wardrobe.

The hard part was finding a flower girl dress for Aliyah. They wanted her to be in the wedding party, even if it was only going to be a small ceremony in front of their family and friends. But every time they found a cute dress, it either wasn’t her size, or it was _just barely_ her size and they couldn’t get it because she might grow before the wedding and then they would have to get _another_ dress because she was growing like a weed lately.

“I promise, this is the last store today, okay princess?” Lotor tried to comfort their daughter. She was – and reasonably so – upset about being carted around to a bunch of different stores and put in a bunch of different dresses. They just… hadn’t had much luck finding the right one, and Aliyah probably couldn’t understand why they had to keep looking.

Aliyah was squirming so much that Lotor had to put her down before she fell out of his arms and hurt herself. Shiro grabbed onto her hand before she could run off. While necessary, this seemed to be the last straw for little Aliyah. She sat herself down on the floor, and the first couple of tears slipped down her cheeks.

“Hey, what’s wrong? Do you want to go back outside?” Shiro knelt down so that he wasn’t towering over Aliyah while he talked to her. Aliyah was shaking her head and wiping her tears on her hands.

And her nose. Ugh. Lotor made a note to make sure she washed her hands once this tantrum passed.

“Do you want to go home? I know it’s been a long day.” They had wanted to get all the wedding clothes shopping done today, considering there was less than a month left before the wedding. It couldn’t be helped if Aliyah was done for the day, though. A crying toddler was not easily dressed, and they didn’t want to stress her out even more.

But Aliyah didn’t react well to that suggestion either. If anything, it seemed to make her even more upset.

“Aliyah, are you hungry? Or tired?” Lotor asked. She just shook her head. “Are you feeling sick?” Still no. Lotor looked to Shiro, who looked just as confused as Lotor felt. “Okay, I think we should go back to the car. We can come back if you really want to, but you’re upset, and we need to figure that out first.”

“Want… dress…” Aliyah said through her sniffles.

“Okay, well, we’re going to find one. It’s okay. There are still lots of pretty dresses to look at.” Shiro brushed Aliyah’s hair out of her face. “Are you upset because we’re going home after this store?”

“Good dress…” Aliyah huffed.

“What does that mean?” Lotor muttered to himself.

“There are lots of good dresses. We just have to find one that fits you. You are a very common size right now,” Shiro tried to explain.

Aliyah was shaking her head again. What was the problem? It was difficult, because Aliyah had hardly a fraction of the vocabulary that Shiro and Lotor did for expressing things, and she was trying so hard to get her point across.

“Maybe we should just take her home?” Shiro suggested. “We can come back later, and maybe they’ll have more options then.”

“Want… good… wedding,” Aliyah said. She sounded like she was trying to figure out what she meant just as much as Shiro and Lotor were.

“Oh, you want to find a good dress, so that the wedding is good?” Lotor guessed.

“Uh huh,” Aliyah sniffled.

“Ali, no matter what dress you wear, you’re gonna be the best-dressed person there,” Shiro assured her. “You don’t have to worry about the wedding being good. As long as we’re all three there, as a family, it’ll be perfect.”

That seemed to reassure her, at least enough for her to stop crying. Lotor scooped her up in his arms, and she laughed instead, so that was a good sign. “Come on, let’s go see if they have anything sparkly like you want,” he said. He wasn’t sure he’d ever understand what went on in Aliyah’s little head, but at least she was happy again.


	5. Day 5: Summer Nights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Shiro and Lotor stargaze on the night before their wedding, and Aliyah sneaks out of bed.

“I can’t believe it’s almost here.”

Lotor tore his gaze away from the stars above them to give Shiro his full attention. “I’m glad it is,” he said. “It feels like this summer has lasted an eternity, waiting for tomorrow.”

“Right?” Shiro was smiling at him, soft and relaxed. It was the kind of smile that Lotor could stare at for the rest of his life and never get tired of seeing it.

Lotor wasn’t sure if he believed in soulmates, but he did believe that after so long, he’d finally found the one person he was truly meant to be with.

“Are we doing that whole ‘you can’t see your fiancé on the wedding day’ thing?” Shiro asked.

“The _what_?” Lotor couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s… I’m sorry, but why would anyone do that?”

“It’s supposed to be bad luck or something,” Shiro said. “I don’t know. It’s probably just another weird Earth tradition.”

“Your traditions aren’t _weird_,” Lotor insisted. “Some of them are beyond my understanding, but that doesn’t make them _weird_.”

“Well, I want to see you tomorrow, before the wedding. It’s supposed to be our perfect day together, and I don’t want to wait until it’s almost over to see you,” Shiro said. “I just… wanted to ask anyway.”

“I would love to spend all of tomorrow with you. And the rest of our lives.”

“You can’t just say things like that!” Shiro laughed. “You gotta give me some warning the next time that you decide to just drop one of the most romantic things ever on me!”

“It’s the truth, though,” Lotor defended himself. He cuddled closer to Shiro on the blanket. He had found Shiro out here, relaxing after all the rehearsals today. Despite how small the ceremony was, there was still a _lot_ of preparation to be done. Lotor couldn’t imagine doing anything bigger.

The air had cooled down since the sun set, and the stars were twinkling up above them. They had specifically found a house away from the city so that they could stargaze together whenever they wanted.

Shiro’s phone beeped, and he reached for it without looking away from the sky. “Oh, Aliyah’s up,” he sighed after checking the display. “Baby monitor app was a good idea…”

Sure enough, Lotor could hear Aliyah running through the house and towards the back door. “Walking feet inside!” he reminded her. Her footsteps slowed down, but barely.

“Want to come stargaze with us?” Shiro asked when the back door creaked open. They really needed to fix that…

Aliyah ran over to them and threw herself on top of her parents. She was giggling like mad, with a huge smile on her face.

“Didn’t want to be left out, huh?” Lotor asked. “Come on, that can’t be comfy…” He tried to maneuver Aliyah so that her foot wasn’t in his face, but she seemed perfectly content where she was. He didn’t have the heart to move her while she was so excited about being out of bed past her bedtime. It was a special occasion… It would be fine…

Lotor didn’t think that they needed to worry about any bad luck tomorrow. He already felt like the luckiest man in the universe with these two for a family.


	6. Day 6: Celebrations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Shiro and Lotor enjoy their wedding reception.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's late, but as of posting this, I have finished all of my entries for Shotor Summer Week 2019! This is the first time I've gotten anything done for a ship week ever, so I'm just glad I got them all done. Better late than never, right?

“To Takashi and Lotor!”

There weren’t a lot of people at their reception, but everyone who mattered was there. It was just a little get together in their backyard. Hiroko and Matt had decorated the yard with purple and silver streamers and plenty of fairy lights, but Shiro and Lotor had asked them not to go overboard on decorations. They wanted it to be simple. What mattered was that their family and friends were there, to celebrate with them.

Aliyah was having fun, at least. She was getting to know her cousins, and she was very much enjoying the sparkling juice that she and the other kids got. She didn’t get much, but it was new, and she was very excited about it. She had taken her role as the flower girl very seriously. She had toddled down the aisle and carefully dropped her flower petals. Then she had sat down at the end of the aisle to play with the basket. It was adorable, and they got it on film. And Hiroko’s son hadn’t eaten the rings, which had been a concern.

Overall, it had been a perfect wedding, and now they were just enjoying the night with their loved ones. It was soft, warm, romantic. It was… perfect.

“Come on, I want pictures of the happy couple having their first dance!” Hiroko came over to them with her camera at the ready.

“You’re a few years too late. We’ve danced together plenty of times,” Lotor said. A few memories of late nights at clubs early in their relationship came to mind, but he doubted that was the kind of dancing Hiroko had in mind. Regardless, they had danced together at state functions all over the universe. And they were good at it.

“No, I mean your first dance as a married couple,” Hiroko clarified. “It’s an Earth tradition.”

“It is,” Shiro said. “Come on, we can pick out a nice song to play, and it’ll be sweet and romantic.”

“You say that like I need convincing,” Lotor chuckled. He took Shiro’s hand and let his husband – his _husband_! He almost couldn’t believe that he could actually say that! He was married! He had a husband! – lead him towards the back porch. A few people cheered. The music that someone had been playing cut off, and another song started playing. “Did you plan for this without telling me?”

“I hadn’t planned on doing a whole ‘first dance’ thing, but Matt’s known what song I wanted since we were teenagers in flight training together,” Shiro explained. He pulled Lotor close and wrapped an arm around his waist. “You don’t mind?”

“Anything for you, my love.” Lotor leaned his head down so that his forehead was resting against Shiro’s.

It wasn’t a showy dance. They just held onto each other, focusing on the other and how close they were, swaying in time with the music. Shiro had a smile on his face that, in a rare moment, showed just how happy he was in that moment.

Lotor almost tripped when something – no, some_one_ – wrapped itself around his leg.

“Sorry, she wanted to dance with her parents,” Hiroko chuckled. Aliyah was starting to turn into one hell of a climber, so Shiro picked her up before she could scale Lotor like a tree. She had the _tiniest_ claws that she was learning how to use, and there was no reason for Lotor’s slacks to end up like a lot of their furniture. Most of their guests asked when they had gotten a cat when they saw the state of the living room couch.

“Okay, you can dance too,” Shiro cooed at her. “Don’t want to be left out?”

Aliyah snuggled up against her dad, and Lotor pulled them both close to him. He had his whole world right here in his arms. It was everything he’d never dared to hope for, right here in front of him.

It was perfect.


	7. Day 7: Free Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Shiro and Lotor are away from Aliyah for the first time ever, and parental panic ensues.

The last time Shiro and Lotor had been on a trip by themselves was years before Aliyah was even considered a possibility. Lotor wanted to explore Earth, so they decided to go on a tour of Europe for their honeymoon. There were so many museums and cultural sites to visit, and Shiro was more than a little excited to try all the different food.

As soon as they stepped off the plane in Granada, however, they were starting to wonder if planning such a long trip was a good idea. A week had seemed reasonable. A day in each country they planned on visiting. They weren’t after an exhaustive tour, just some of the main sites to see so that Lotor could get a feel for different Earth cultures. This was just day one, with a visit to the Alhambra planned for the morning, an afternoon in Madrid, and dinner in Barcelona before heading off to France tomorrow. It should go quickly enough, right?

“What time is it in Japan?” Lotor asked. “It’s not too late to call, right?”

“Relax, it’s afternoon there,” Shiro said, already pulling his tablet out of his carryon. “As long as she’s not napping, we can talk to her.”

“I didn’t think leaving her with your sister would be so hard,” Lotor admitted. As soon as they had boarded the plane without having to wrangle a toddler into her seat, Lotor had known that this was going to be a difficult trip. He loved Shiro, and he loved the idea of having a whole week to themselves, but their daughter was so far away, and what if something went wrong? It would take them hours to get there! And she had never been away from them for this long! What if she was upset? They hadn’t left her with Hiroko for more than a day before. “Are they even off the plane yet?”

“Oh, you’re right,” Shiro muttered. “Well, they have plane wifi. We can at least get pictures of her.”

“Hiroko promised updates every day, right?”

“Twice a day.” Shiro pulled up an app and started typing. He had a reply in seconds.

_Geez, you two don’t waste any time, huh?_

A picture of Aliyah sleeping in her seat on the plane popped up, and Lotor reached for the tablet. “She’s so precious,” he sighed. “We’re flying straight to Japan to see her after our honeymoon, right?”

“As soon as we’re done in Sweden. I love her, but I also need to go to the original IKEA,” Shiro said.

“She would love the original IKEA…” Lotor muttered.

“She does love IKEA…” Shiro agreed. Aliyah was easily entertained by showroom furniture, for some reason.

“Okay, we are going to enjoy this vacation, and Aliyah will be fine with your sister,” Lotor said. “We aren’t so lost in the throes of parenthood that we can’t enjoy a weeklong trip on our own.”

“I honestly thought I’d be the one giving you this pep talk,” Shiro said. “But you’re right. She’s fine. We should enjoy ourselves. This is our first vacation as a married couple. We should enjoy it.”

The Alhambra was stunning, and Madrid had so many things to do, and Barcelona was beautiful and romantic, and it was the perfect start to their honeymoon. It was great. It was… great.

“I miss her. I need to talk to her. What time is it over there?” Lotor asked as soon as they got to their hotel room.

“It’s 4 am there, she’s probably asleep,” Shiro said. “They’re probably all asleep.”

“I’m not there to tuck her in and read her bedtime story to her!” Lotor groaned. He collapsed onto the bed, staring at his phone. “I can’t even check the baby monitor, because she’s not at home!”

“Relax, if anything was wrong, Hiroko would have called us,” Shiro said. “It’s important for her to have time away from us. She’s going to start preschool in a couple of years and…” Shiro trailed off as the realization hit him. “Oh my god, she’s starting preschool in a couple of years.”

“She’s growing up and we’re missing it!”

“No, we are not going to panic about this.” Shiro was pacing the room. “She’s growing up, spending a week away from home for the first time, and before you know it, she’ll be off to school, and then it’ll be off to college, and then she’ll be an adult and she won’t need us anymore.”

“How mad will Hiroko be if we call now?”

“She’ll forgive us.” Shiro jumped onto the bed to lay next to Lotor while he pulled up the video chat app.

_“Guys, she’s asleep. She can’t talk.”_ Hiroko had clearly just woken up.

“Just show her to us. We’re having a parental meltdown,” Lotor said.

_“She’s fine,” _Hiroko sighed. She got up anyway and went down the hall to the room where Aliyah was going to be sleeping by herself, all week. _“Look, she’s sound asleep and…”_ They could hear giggles coming from the other room, and there was an empty bedroom on the screen. _“Oh, come on, you have school tomorrow! You should all be asleep!”_

Aliyah was giggling while one of Hiroko’s kids did a silly little dance on the bed. Most of the kids froze when Hiroko walked in, Aliyah and Hiroko’s youngest didn’t seem fazed.

_“Everyone, bed, now,”_ Hiroko said. The kids dispersed to their rooms, and Hiroko picked up Aliyah. _“Alright, as long as you’re awake, say hi to your dads.”_

_“Hi!”_ Aliyah waved at them and tried to touch the screen, which only turned the camera around.

“Hey princess,” Shiro cooed. “You having fun with Aunt Hiroko?”

“Be good for her,” Lotor added. “No wild parties.”

“She’s having her first sleepover,” Shiro said.

_“Yeah, and it’s going to be her last for a while,”_ Hiroko chuckled. _“How about you let your dads read you a bedtime story and go back to sleep?”_

“We don’t have any of her books,” Lotor said.

_“Just tell her something cute like the first time you met.”_

“Uh…” Shiro and Lotor shared a _look_. “It really wasn’t all that cute.”

_“And she won’t remember it anyway. She just needs to go to sleep, and quickly, so that _I _can go back to sleep.”_

“Well…” Lotor shrugged and re-centered the tablet. “Your father and I met when his coworkers threw me in a jail cell.”

**Author's Note:**

> You can come talk to me about Shotor at hashtag-anthems on tumblr or @hashtaganthems on twitter. Leave a kudos or a comment if you feel inclined, and hopefully I'll actually be able to post everything on time this week!


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